EAST RUTHERFORD, New Jersey (Ticker) -- The New Jersey Nets
shoveled some more dirt out of their early-season hole.

Stephon Marbury had 16 points and 13 assists and Kerry Kittles
added 21 points as the Nets took another step toward erasing
their dismal start with an 89-83 victory over the punchless New
York Knicks.

With their worst basketball seemingly behind them, the Nets
continued moving forward with their seventh win in nine games
overall and eighth straight at home, tying a franchise record
last accomplished during the 1993-94 season.

Leading 62-61 with 3:29 remaining in the third quarter, the Nets
pulled away for good when Scott Burrell drained back-to-back
jumpers and Kittles hit a 21-footer to make it 70-61 with less
than a minute left in the period.

"It's important for us to establish as a team at home and this
month we have," Kittles said. "Winning a lot of games at home
this month has been very important. We have been focused,
aggressive and we have played hard and good things have
happened. Right now, we have more team confidence. It's a big
win."

Kendall Gill scored a season-high 23 points for the Nets, who
managed their first win in five meetings against their rivals
from across the Hudson River. New Jersey won despite the absence
of second-leading scorer Keith Van Horn, the forward who was
sent home with the flu prior to the game.

"The crosstown rivalry is good for the psyche, good for my
psyche anyway," Nets coach Don Casey said.

The Knicks were without injured forward Marcus Camby (ankle) and
forward Kurt Thomas, who was serving the first of a two-game
suspension for punching Indiana guard Jalen Rose on Christmas.
Allan Houston scored 19 points and Latrell Sprewell was held to
eight as New York's top two offensive weapons were held
scoreless over the final 12 minutes.

New York's John Wallace scored a season-high 20 points off the
bench just two days after being jailed for driving with a
suspended license. The Knicks have lost back-to-back games for
the first time since November 17-19.

"New Jersey did a good job. We played poorly, but give them the
credit," Knicks coach Jeff Van Gundy said. "They played well
and deserved to win. We had our chances. Everybody struggles.
We just don't want to make excuses. We got outplayed tonight.
That's the bottom line."

New York was also without point guard Charlie Ward (flu), but
his backup, former Net Chris Childs, had 11 points for New York.
Sprewell had a dreadful game, missing 12-of-16 shots from the
floor without a single trip to the line.

"They did a lot better job than we did," Sprewell said. "Marcus,
Charlie Ward and Kurt Thomas are a big part of our offense. To
have those three guys missing is taking a hit. In the second
half, Kerry Kittles got on a roll for them and carried them a
lot."

Houston shot 6-of-13 through three quarters, but missed all five
attempts in the final period as the Knicks shot a dismal 38
percent (30-of-79) and yielded 20 points off turnovers.

"To hold them to 38 percent, the defense is superb," Casey said.
"Like I said after (today's) shootaround, the guys stepped up.
Kittles got into a little zone. I thought (the Knicks) did a
good defensive job on Stephon. They had a couple of guys out
too, not that it neutralizes (Van Horn), but guys stepped up."

Patrick Ewing had nine points and 16 rebounds to help New York
to a 48-47 advantage on the boards, but was dismayed at his
team's overall performance.

"They kicked our butts," Ewing said. "We didn't play
particularly well, we couldn't hit any shots, we didn't play
well on defense to win the ballgame. They outplayed us. We felt
that even with those guys out, we still had enough to win. We
didn't get the job done."

Jamie Feick grabbed 17 rebounds for the Nets, who shot 41
percent (33-of-80) and yielded just seven points off turnovers.

"It feels good because we are such great rivals," Feick said.
"We had confidence coming into the game and we were ready to go.
When you lose a scorer like Keith, somehow you have to rally
together and I thought Gill and Kittles did a terrific job in
picking up the scoring."

The game featured 15 lead changes and 13 ties before Marbury put
the Nets in front to stay.

He hit a 22-footer, fed Jim McIlvaine for a layup before making
one himself and then sank a pair of free throws to turn a
three-point deficit into a 56-51 lead with eight minutes left in
the third quarter.